Creation to Consummation Not Grieve As Those Who Have No Hope
by Ed Stevens
W
hat was the composition of the Thessalonian church? Did it include Jews as well as Gentiles? In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he addressed their concern for some of their fellow saints who had “fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:13). Who were those “fallen asleep” folks, and where were they? Were they in Hades, waiting to be raised from there at the Parousia? Why were the Thessalonians so concerned about them, and how did Paul comfort them in their grief? These are the questions we will consider in this article. Both Jews and Gentiles Thessalonica was a free city in the Roman province of Macedonia, and had a Jewish synagogue (Acts 17:1). Luke says that Paul preached Christ in that synagogue, and that “some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women” (Acts 17:23). Thus we can deduce that the Thessalonian church was originally composed of “some” Jews and “a large number” of uncircumcised Greeks, plus several of the leading women of the city. When some of the Jews from that synagogue “joined Paul and Silas,” it made the unbelieving Jews jealous (Acts 17:5-9). They stirred up a persecution against the Christians, forcing Paul and Silas to leave and go to nearby Berea, where they repeated this scenario of preaching in the synagogue, making converts of both Jews and uncircumcised Greeks, and suffering persecution as a result (Acts 17:10-15). “Fallen Asleep in Jesus” We know that the Thessalonian Christians were subject to frequent harassment from that time onward, since Paul, in his second letter, speaks proudly of their “perseverance and faith in the midst of all their persecutions and afflictions which they were enduring” (2 Thess 1:4-10). Some of them were undoubtedly killed in that persecution, and it is to those martyrs that Paul seems to be referring when he describes them as having “fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:13-15). Paul wrote these two epistles to the Thessalonian Christians (AD 52-53) less than a year after he had started the church there, so there were likely very few, if any, Thessalonian Christians who had died a natural death during that short interim. It is more probable that the “fallen asleep” ones mentioned here were martyrs.
12
FULFILLED MAGAZINE • FALL 2016
Both Christians and Jews believed that martyrs had a special reward awaiting them in the afterlife, and they were treated differently at death than non-martyrs. This is demonstrated in the book of Revelation, where the martyrs were under the altar in heaven (Rev 6:9-11), and the great multitude of martyrs who came out of the great tribulation (Neronic persecution) were standing before the throne in heaven (Rev 7:13-17). They did not go to the underworld (Sheol or Hades) out of which the rest of the dead were waiting to be raised. What was the Thessalonians concern? The Thessalonians were grieving over the loss of some of their fellow Christians, and were worried that those martyrs might miss the blessings that the living saints would experience at the Parousia. The living saints were afraid that they might not ever see their departed brethren again. In order for there to However, Paul reassured them that those martyrs would not miss those experiential reunion at th blessings, but would instead be the one of two things wou first to receive them, and would then happen. Either the dead be reunited with their loved ones who to be raised back into th remained alive at the Parousia. Jesus brought those martyrs with bodies and live again in Him when He descended from heaven realm on earth, or the l at the Parousia (1 Thess 3:13; 4:1416). This confirms that the Christian have to be translated into martyrs did not go to Hades, but realm to be where the de were instead in heaven with Christ. When He descended at the Parousia, He brought them with Him. Then the rest of the dead (those who were not martyred) were raised out of Hades, the living saints were changed (1 Cor 15:51-52), and both were caught up together as one group to meet Christ and the martyrs in the “air” (mid-heaven) of the unseen realm above (1 Thess 4:14-17). Although John 3:13 states “. . . no one has ascended to heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man,” we must recall that Christ made this declaration prior to the Cross. Both Matthew 27:52-53 and Ephesians 4:8-9 indicate that the Old Testament martyrs were released from Hades and ascended with Christ at His Ascension. So there was a reunion of both the living and dead saints at the Parousia. But none of the dead reappeared on earth. Instead, both the martyrs and the rest of the dead remained in the unseen realm, while the living saints were changed into their new immortal bodies
